As a comparison, the other major industries in the top 62 companies by revenue are: Automotive with seven companies, conglomerates with six, and retail with five.

Interestingly, the top retail companies, Wal-Mart, CVS, Tesco (a British grocery and general merchandise retailer), Costco, and Carrefour (a French multinational supermarket and department store) are mainly selling low priced items, leading me to think that thoughtless consumer spending is a major contributor to their profits. A principal aim of MyMoneyPicture is to eliminate thoughtless spending.

It is clear, however, that oil and gas is by far the largest industry by revenue.

Industrial users (agriculture, mining, manufacturing, and
construction) consume about 37% of the total world's energy.

Personal and
commercial transportation consumes 20%.

Residential heating, lighting,
and appliances use 11%.

Commercial uses (lighting, heating and
cooling of commercial buildings, and provision of water and sewer
services) amount to 5% of the total.

Twenty seven percent of the world's energy is lost in energy transmission and generation.

Energy conservation can provide many benefits for our society from protection from climate change, to increased national security by reducing our dependence on foreign suppliers of oil and gas.

But what I am most enthusiastic about is how with a few changes we can reduce our spending on energy and improve our personal financial situation.

Installing electrical outlet insulation prevents cold air from coming in during winter, and cool air from leaving during summer. You can often get 10 for $1 and it takes minutes to install them.

If you have ceiling fans, make sure you have them rotating in the correct direction for the season. During the summer you want the fan to blow air straight down, so your ceiling fan needs to run in a counter clockwise
direction (as you look up at it). The warmer it is, the higher the
speed should be. During the winter, your fan should run at a low speed
in a clockwise direction.

Here is a wonderful explanation of how switching from incandescent light bulbs can reduce your monthly lighting bill from $50 to $11.73 for CFLs or $7.97 for LED bulbs.

Adding a storm door with a retractable screen can help insulate your home in the winter and easily add cooling cross ventilation in the summer.

You can improve your gas mileage by up to 3.3% by keeping your tires
inflated to the proper pressure. Under-inflated tires can lower gas
mileage by 0.3% for every 1 psi drop in pressure of all four tires.
Properly inflated tires are also safer and last longer.

These are just a few ideas. It can be fun to try to think of ways to reduce the amount of energy you waste every month. And the money you save will make it even better!